2023 Emmys: A closer look at ‘Abbott Elementary’s’ 8 nominations for Season 2

“Abbott Elementary” is back in the Emmy race again with its sophomore season after achieving multiple awards successes at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards. In its first Emmy outing, the show was a threat to win Best Comedy Series, having picked up writing and casting awards, along with a Best Supporting Actress victory for Sheryl Lee Ralph. This year it added to its tally with an additional nomination, garnering eight against last year’s seven, and all notably for a full network season of 22 episodes. Read on for a closer look at “Abbott Elementary’s” eight Emmy nominations.

Just like last year, “Abbott Elementary” is the only broadcast network show cited in the Best Comedy Series race (and all top series races for that matter) about the lives of teachers being documented at an underfunded elementary school that is predominantly Black. Only Amazon Freevee’s “Jury Duty” has fewer nominations than the ABC mockumentary with four. The other shows it competes with are HBO’s “Barry” and Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building” with 11 mentions, Netflix’s “Wednesday” with 12, FX’s “The Bear” with 13, Amazon Prime Video’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” with 14, and Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso” with 21.

Despite missing the writing and directing categories for the second season, the show increased its bids with the actors’ branch, maintaining all of its noms in Quinta Brunson for Best Comedy Actress, Tyler James Williams in Best Comedy Supporting Actor, and Ralph and Janelle James for Best Comedy Supporting Actress, while obtaining an extra bid for Taraji P. Henson in Best Comedy Guest Actress.

All actors each have different submissions from some of the series’ standout episodes. Brunson entered “Teacher Conference,” where her character Jeanine Teagues shares a kiss with Gregory Eddie, while her counterpart Williams puts up “Educator of the Year” with Eddie honored with the titular award on television, making him nervous.

Both James and Ralph submitted episodes examining their characters’ personal lives. James’ episode “Fundraiser” glimpsing at Ava Coleman’s younger life and reasons for having to lie, and Ralph’s submission “Fire” looking into Barbara Howard’s emotional life and strain. Henson made her appearance in the season’s penultimate episode “Mom” where she plays Jeanine’s estranged mother Vanetta and asks her for money.

For the Creative Arts, the series once again received a key casting nomination, and will defend its title, and it finally was noticed for its hairstyling for the episode “Festival.”

Here are the 2023 Emmy nominations for “Abbott Elementary”:

Best Comedy Series
Quinta Brunson, Executive Producer
Justin Halpern, Executive Producer
Patrick Schumacker, Executive Producer
Randall Einhorn, Executive Producer
Brian Rubenstein, Co-Executive Producer
Jordan Temple, Supervising Producer
Brittani Nichols, Producer
Josh Greene, Producer
Scott Sites, Produced by

Best Comedy Actress
Quinta Brunson as Jeanine Teagues (“Teacher Conference”)

Best Comedy Supporting Actor
Tyler James Williams as Gregory Eddie (“Educator of the Year”)

Best Comedy Supporting Actress
Sheryl Lee Ralph as Barbara Howard (“Fire”)

Best Comedy Supporting Actress
Janelle James as Ava Coleman (“Fundraiser”)

Best Comedy Guest Actress (“Mom”)
Taraji P. Henson as Vanetta Teagues

Best Comedy Casting
Wendy O’Brien, Casting by
Chris Gehrt, Casting by

Best Contemporary Hairstyling (“Festival”)
Moira Frazier, Department Head Hairstylist
Dustin Osborne, Key Hairstylist
Christina Joseph, Hairstylist

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